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Published: September 13th 2017
Given that we were chased by an elephant back in Kaudulla, I was a bit dubious at first when I realised we were surrounded by a small herd of them in Uda Walawe. But our latest jeep man seem unconcerned as did the elephants.
Udawalawe National Park is one of the main parks in Sri Lanka and around 10kms from where we were staying. Today's jeep is the best one yet giving Glyn leg room for once, a roof and my feet didn't touch the floor. As always we had the back of the vehicle to ourselves.The early morning drive took us past the reservoir with the sunrise reflecting nicely upon it. Wire fences run along the edge of the road to apparently stop the elephants wandering into traffic, but they still come right up to them and so we got to see one before even entering the park. Glyn accidentally leaned on a wire whilst taking a photo and this is how we discovered they are not electric despite jeep man saying they were.
I counted around 15 other jeeps this morning which considering the park is huge meant that we got to be alone at times. Our
first wildlife stop of the morning was an elephant herd in the low trees meandering gently beside us and crossing our path, but barely noticing us. Later on we saw further small herds ambling across the plain in their own sweet time, stopping occasionally to spray sand over their backs.
A small pack of golden jackals spied us from the undergrowth and we spied them back. They soon trotted off before too many jeeps turned up. Whenever you see another jeep stationary in the distance you tend to head that way, assuming that they spotted something interesting. It's always a disappointment when it's a small bird on a stick with its back turned.
We saw quite a few elephants and the best thing about Udawalawe is that the scenery is amazing with decent misty mountains in the distance, open plains making the animals more visible (although they do have trees and bushes to hide in) plus lots of watering holes, so amazing backgrounds behind the animals. As it goes, I took some photos just of scenery!
We stopped for a break on some rocks and asked our jeep man about leopards. Yes there are around 25-30 leopards
in the park but he's only seen two, they usually hide from people in the trees. Well he's young so he can't have been around the park that many times I told myself. Like everyone else we ask, he tells us we need to go to Yala - but it's closed for the drought!!
There were lots of birds and whenever jeep man pulled up by one we had to photograph it or he wouldn't move on. Peacocks were aplenty and making almost as much noise as tourists do when they are asked to be quiet. By some tree a troupe of grey Langur monkeys were playing and it was a true pleasure to watch them, the experience only marred by one other jeep containing three Spanish tourists who babbled all the way through and it didn't even sound like they were talking about the monkeys. Honestly, how is it that people can't look without opening their mouths constantly? The experience is about the sounds as well as the sights. By the time they pulled off, another one turned up. But the monkeys were awesome.
I desperately scanned every tree that looked like it could accommodate a leopard,
but was only rewarded with regular sightings of smug peacocks higher up in the trees than they should be.
The morning quickly flew by and we returned via the same elephant at the wire surrounded by tourists. A guy selling fruit to people to feed the elephant hung around, but this is not a good idea as wild elephants should not be in the habit of coming to humans for food - there's too many poachers and stupid people about.
Returning along the causeway, we were soon back at the accommodation by 10am for a waiting breakfast. There are plenty of lizards and flowers in the garden, so I finally got to use my macro lens that has been carried half way around the world, I felt better for that! But then the accommodation manager beckoned me to his family's private garden next door where a huge monitor lizard was looking wary. I needed to change to my standard lens as it was around 3 feet long! It went into the accommodation grounds and I was grateful for that, but then got too close and it growled at me. Another to add to the list of wildlife I've
upset. Also in the garden was a little cat having its dinner, this is always a good thing no matter how uninterested Glyn pretends to be.
It started to rain a little as we drove past the usual elephant at the wire on our way to the afternoon safari. Jeep man wanted to roll down the sides to protect us from the rain but we insisted on keeping them up so we could see; the view would be very restricted through dirty plastic and anyway it usually blows over between 10 to 30 minutes. We saw water buffalo wallowing in the reservoir and a few elephants tramping through the bush. But the rain came down harder and soon we were just about the only jeep left with the sides up. We had waterproof covers for our camera gear but I did not have the mac I'd bought especially for this trip, yet we soldiered on, determined to see more wildlife, getting wetter and wetter. It would have been worth it had I seen a leopard but I did not. I guess they have more sense than me and stayed sheltered in the undergrowth or up a very leafy tree.
In fact once the rain and thunder REALLY set in, we barely saw any more wildlife: a few soggy deer, an elephant that turned its bum to us and had a steaming dump plus some monkeys as high up on a high tree as they could get.
Needless to say the rain did not subside and when our jeep man got out of his cab, he did laugh a little at the soggy cold pair, took pity and gave us biscuits. The drive back took forever, we thought it pointless to pull down the sides now but in hindsight it wasn't. The drive across the causeway was not sheltered by any trees and so cold it lasted an eternity. However the usual elephant was still there, unphased by the downpour and waiting for fruit but no one was stopping. This was the crappest safari either of us have ever had and jeep man apologised despite it not being his fault at all. But such is the nature of nature.
We ate at our accommodation as we'd had enough of getting wet, but our kindly host popped out in the jeep to get us beer and coke, so the
day has ended well and with a good meal.
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martin
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thanks
Post more than Great , Kindly Thanks spot7.org